Chuck and Jill: The Stanford Years
by Livo147
Summary: AU. Have you ever how Chuck gets into a frat? Or about Chuck during his time at Stanford. In this FanFiction I answer these questions and provide a backstory to canon Chuck. Featuring Chuck, Jill, Bryce, Morgan, Ellie, and Orion. This story is not a Charah FanFiction. Chuck/Jill. I'm not decided if fulcrum will be a huge part in it.
1. Chapter 1

CHUCK AND JILL: THE STANFORD YEARS

Hi everyone! I'm new to writing on . When I went on the Chuck archives I noticed there were a lot of "Charah" stories—which is totally understandable. However, I'm not going to be doing the cliché. The story I'm doing is one that I believe is relatively unique to the Chuck fan fiction archives. This is because the premise of the story is a prelude to canon "Chuck." It is going to be focusing on the relationships between Chuck, Bryce, Jill, and some OCs. Also just in case you are wondering, I don't know if I'm going to write in the fulcrum stuff with Jill or not. Personally, I want the fanfic to be lighthearted with only some minimal angst.

Anyways this is getting way to long! Thank you for reading!

—LIVO

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March 1997 (Past 3rd Pov)

Chuck Bartowski is a lanky kid, he's shy, nerdy, and overly protective of his friends and family. His qualities don't make him the most popular guy at school—in fact no one would call him that. However, no one could argue with the fact that he is the most brilliant—anything with computers or electronics is his forte. His intelligence is his only way out from a lousy situation. This lousy situation includes, no father or mother in the picture and being raised by his older sister: Eleanor or Ellie for short. And he loves Ellie to much to let himself bog down her life for the sake of his.

That is why today is so important to him. It is the day in which all of his hard work is validated. Most of his classmates are content with going to a Cal State or to a UC; but, Chuck wanted better—he deserved better. This is because Chuck wanted to go to Stanford, the Bastion of knowledge on the west coast. The place where his career aspirations will be meet and his thirst for knowledge will be quenched. And now on the table when he got home from another long day at school, he saw it. An envelope with a crimson red seal that read "Stanford." Sighing heavily, Charles Bartowski opened the letter, his heart beating a million times per second and his eyes scanning the letter for a single word: "Accepted." After what seemed like an eternity his eyes stopped and his hard work was validated.

* * *

September 1997 (Chuck's POV)

405 hours. I had to work 405 hours just so I can buy a rental car which may or may not be able to take me to school. I went through hell at the buymore—thank god I won't be working there again! And on top of that, I hate not being able to buy what my sister and I need. Our parents left us high and dry and now we have to pick up the pieces. Can you imagine it; leaving two children to fend for themselves? I bet I can read your mind. You can't. And I don't blame you, it takes heartless people to be able to do that to their children.

"What did I do to deserve a life like this" I think to myself.

Then, Ellie as if reading my mind had a huge scowl over her face. It just seemed to scream "Chuck stop self-loathing about your life and live with it."

I have to say though, Ellie is my rock, and I wouldn't have been able to get through life without her. Thats another reason why I'm scared—I don't know how to live without Ellie supporting me. Not to mention Morgan, my little gremlin best friend who has been there for me my whole life. He adds a certain level of confidence to my demeanor, which can't be understated.

Anyways today is finally the day that I'll be moving to Stanford. I've done a lot of packing and I've loaded of all of my stuff. The truck's load must be at least 400 pounds with all of my stuff in it. Morgan came to my house around an hour ago—he was reduced to a sobering slob. He was trying to make me stay and trying to make go to the community college around here. I was actually considering it until reality hit me and I realized that its almost time to go.

Then the thought of just not going was pushed to the back to myself I say, "Shit, its four O' Clock. We should have already left." And just a side note: this always tends happens to me, I get sidetracked and end up getting off schedule.

Screaming I say, "Eleanor Bartowski, we have to leave now!"

"Gosh Chuck, hold your horses," Ellie basically yells back at me.

She doesn't understand how nervous I am, nor does she really care. My nerves have really caused my appearance to hit a snag after I was accepted into Stanford. My normally curly hair has gotten shaggy and dirty; my eyes now have constant bags under them which makes me look 50 years older; and my demeanor has been horrible—to my sister, my friends, and my teachers. Can you blame me though? I have so much stress and they just can't stop annoying me.

When we finally got onto the open road. I start looking at the window and my life starts flashing through my eyes. All of the trauma that I've had to endure, like that of my parents leaving suddenly starts to come back to me. I can still remember the day that my mom left, under the veil of the night. I was so scared back then—I kept wondering to myself why she left Ellie and me. At first I thought it was because I was acting bad. But as I grew older, my reasoning became a little more pessimistic: She just didn't care about us. After being locked in to my thoughts for what seems to be hours, I am pulled out by Ellie.

She says, "Chuck, come on we need to get some gas!" I silently sigh and get out of the car to get gas.

Ellie and I stopped at a gas station that was in the middle of nowhere. Ellie was going on and on about how she was driving, so the least I could do was get the gas. Not wanting to get into an argument I get out and start heading out to the gas station walking I noticed that there was only one other family and they had a car packed to the brim filled with luggage. My only thought was that they must be going off to school too. And then as I went into the gas station I noticed a girl, she had light brown hair, glasses that covered her skinny nose, and small diamond earrings that scream of modesty The thing I honed in on was her sweater. It was a crimson sweater with the letters: Stanford. Jackpot.

Okay, so let me tell you about myself. I can't talk to girls. No matter the girl, my mouth dries up, my brows start to sweat, and I start to stutter. However, I still try to go to them and talk. I can't say that it works for me, but at least I try—right? So when I slowly approach this mystery girl, I try to gain her attention by coughing. As usual I fail miserably.

She looks at me with an awkward face and says, "Um, who are you?"

Per usual, I start to fidget around and I say, "Hi…my name is Chuck Bartowski. I saw your Stanford sweater and was wondering what year you are?"

Her expression totally changed, she smiled when she said, "I'm a first year and what year are you?"

Thats when our conversation started, I went over my major—telling her it was computer science—and then she told me her's was biomedical engineering (which is super cool). I couldn't help but think to myself that she was equally smart and beautiful. And then I realized that my mind was on cloud nine and that never before have I seen a smile that was so captivating—that it nearly made my heart stop.

We talked for what seemed like hours—about Star wars, Star Trek, Pokemon, and everything else in between. And I felt a real connection with this mystery girl and secretly I hoped she felt with a connection with me. Then a sudden realization hit me and I remembered that I don't even know the girl's name.

So I cough and I very awkwardly ask, "Ummmmm, sorry but I didn't even catch your name."

Just as she gets ready to respond, I interject and ask, "And if it wouldn't be to forward, can I also have your number?"

She thinks about it for what seems to me like an eternity. Finally she responds, "First my name is Jill Roberts and secondly no you may not have my number."

My face grew numb and my brows started to furrow. I didn't even know what I did wrong. I'm pretty sure I hit all of the social cues that a person is supposed to hit when getting ready to ask a girl for her number. She must have noticed the crestfallen look on my face. Not wanting to get even more embarrassed, I start to walk away. Suddenly

Jills puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "Okay, Okay I give in. I'll tell you what, here's my address and maybe if you meet me at my room I'll give you my phone number."

After that moment I only knew one thing and that was: I was going to visit Jill Roberts.

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 **Author's Notes:**

Hi everyone! So I just finished the first chapter of my story. What do you think? This chapter went by really fast and seems to cover a lot of ground in terms of chuck getting into Stanford and going into Stanford. In my next chapters I will try to make the subject matter a little more nuanced in the subject matter. School is starting for me soon so I don't know when this will be updated. If anyone knows a good Beta, can you please PM me? And thank you for your support!

-Livo


	2. Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home KInda

Chuck and Jill: The Stanford Years

Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home…Sorta Author's note:  
Hey everyone! Thank you for reading the first chapter, I really appreciate it. I am just going to go over a few things about what will be included in my author's notes. For example, when I'm writing a fanfiction one of the things that I do is listen to music. Its because it helps me focus—weird right? The reason why I'm saying this is because in each of my notes I will share what I'm listening. Secondly, I will try to sure up my writing process by trying to explain any holes there are in the plot. And lastly, I will respond to all of the comments You guys ask me. This is because your feedback is super important to me.

Just a little disclaimer: I don't own Chuck nor do I have any plans to own Chuck in the future. The characters mentioned are not mine unless their denoted as an "Original Character" or an "OC."

Anyways, heres my first edition of: Chapter music.

"My Aim Is True" by Elvis Costello: A 70's new wave album with elements of proto-punk. This album is super influential in music and has some of the wittiest lyrics you can find. The album has some unrequited love undertones, so I tried to channel that when writing this chapter. I'd highly recommend this album. It is one of my top 20 albums—8/10.

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Chuck's Pov

We got into the city of Palo Alto at around noonish. I know that I'm supposed to be thinking about unpacking and my newfound independence, but I can't help but think about Jill. You never know how much one person can change you when you only talk to them for about 30 minutes. You must think I'm some hopeless desperate sap. But truth be told, I didn't even expect to see her again. Being the pessimist I am, I figured that she probably gave me a fake address or that she gave me the address out of pity. My mind starts spiraling and it starts to work like a machine—computing every imaginable scenario. As my mind goes deeper and deeper into oblivion, Ellie actually successfully me out.

Ellie says, "C'mon Chuck, we're here. We have to start unloading." "Alright El, but first I gotta check in with the school," I say.

All incoming freshman have to go to a table to get checked in and get our keys and other things. Once, I got out of the car I realized that my legs were completely jelly from the long, arduous drive. I had to let my legs get adjusted to the there new positions. While letting them adjust I was able to get a good look at the campus. And my good it was beautiful. There were trees everywhere, there were red roofs that covered the sprawling hills, and Catholic styled architecture that accentuated the foliage.

When I was done absorbing the beauty of the school I was finally able to start to walk to the Residential Advisor's table. But, I could not help but feel like I was being watched. Side note: Another fun fact about me is that sometimes I get super paranoid. I blame the paranoia on watching to many spy movies with Morgan. I never liked the movies but I just liked hanging out with my best bud. However, my suspicions end up being true as I notice some guy staring at me. He's an older guy, shorter than me, and he has a crazy scientist vibe to him. This stare was not one of animus but one of longing. This look captivated me an naturally I couldn't help but move towards him like a magnet that is pulled toward the same pole. As I'm walking though the old guy tries to move away from me—its almost like he is afraid of me. His pace becomes more brisk and I walk as fast a I can towards him but he manages to get away. I would've ran towards him but I didn't want to cause a scene during my first day here. As I start to walk back to where I was, I can't help but wonder why that guy was staring at me.

* * *

Old mans POV

"Shit, that was close," I think to my self.

My heart was pounding—I haven't had this much adrenaline pump through me for a long time. I know that I can't be this stupid again since he almost caught me. Well, You may be wondering who I am? Well allow me to enlighten you. My name is Orion and I'm father of Eleanor and Charles Bartowski. I know that a million question are probably swirling through your minds, well let me just provide the bare necessities. First off, I was forced to leave my family—it wasn't a choice. I had to leave in order to protect them. I got in deep with some government agencies and they wanted me to design a certain piece of technology—I'll tell you about that later. Secondly, the reason why I'm here at my son's school is to protect him. The leader of the NSA—Beckman—and the leader of the CIA—Graham—seem to have taken a keen eye to my son. Knowing those two, they'll probably try to recruit my son into some covert special operation. I left my son to protect him from the bureaucracy and I won't let my sacrifice go to waste.

I need to figure out how to protect Chuck while not getting overly involved in his life. The life that I left is slowly starting to creep back to me. I always replay that fateful night when I left my poor kids. My birth name was Stephen Bartowski but he died that night and that was the night Orion was born. I did my best to try to move on from my old life, but my old life always seems to come back to me. This all happened because I was to young and ambitious. Fresh out of CalTech, idealism radiated off of me. Some people say hubris is the downfall of heroes. But hubris is the downfall of all people. It turns out that I was to blinded by my own personal ambitions that I failed to realize how it would adversely my family. "Creating a better world," is what they called it. They also said "Making America strong again," and "Protecting the Flag," but those words quickly turned into, "Establishing a new order," and "Destroying America for the better." The group I'm talking about is called Fulcrum and their one mission is to destroy the constitution of the United States and all of her values. I was able to get out of Fulcrum, but it did not come without consequences. I was forced into the servitude of the United States government, creating inventions and even more inventions to pay off the treason I committed towards my I learned that the U.S Government was looking into Chuck, I decided to do some more digging. And after hours upon hours of research into Stanford, I learned that Fulcrum has infiltrated the faculty. The only logical explanation is that fulcrum is also interested in Chuck.

Sighing to myself I say, "I'll be damned if the government takes my freedom and then strips my son of his freedom as well. And I sure as hell won't give him to fulcrum. And at the precise moment, I was resolved in my quest to protect my son. I finally gained back that piece I was missing. I am no longer Orion nor am I Stephen Bartowski. I am what I should've always been—a father. And it would have to be a cold day in hell before I let Chuck down again.

* * *

Chucks POV

Its been nearly an hour and I couldn't stop thinking about the old guy looking at me. Something about him made me uneasy. It was almost like I knew him or at least knew of him. My mood totally shifted after that encounter. I went from a happy camper to someone who seemed a little miffed. However, I know that I can't keep that mentality up all day. I slowly started walking to the table. And as I was moving I couldn't help but notice all of the students and their perfect lives. They all had a mom and a dad, polo shirts, smiles, and love. These lives are so foreign to me, not because I didn't have love (I got a lot from El) but because I didn't see it from parents. I don't want to seem like a depressed guy, but I cant help it.

I noticed someone tapping my shoulders, expecting it to be Ellie—since she has always been the one to do it— I say, "El, I know. You don't have to poke me every five seconds." When I turn around though I see a guy whose around 6 feet tall, platonically handsome, and is wearing a Tron shirt. I think to myself, "Wow this is my kind of dude." Me being a total nerd honed in on the Tron shirt.

I must have been staring at the shirt for a while because the guy who is clearly annoyed murmurs, "Can you move… please." At first I was taken aback by his rudeness but I gathered my senses and moved up.

Wondering if he likes Tron as much as I do and just trying to make small talk,I ask, "So how do you feel about the supposed remake of Tron?" His face seems to lighten up, and he goes into a huge explanation of why it would be better than the original, at the end of the explanation he asks for my name. I replied curtly with, "Hey, I'm Chuck Bartowski. To which he replies, "Nice to meet you Chuck, I'm Bryce Larkin."

* * *

Fast forward to beginning of School (Present)

Chucks Pov School has finally started and life couldn't be more stressful. I have three classes a day and non-stop homework. My daily schedule goes like this: wake up at 8, go to breakfast at 8:30, attend class at 9, more class at 11, eat lunch at 12, attend even more class at 2, and finally, homework for the rest of the day. Now you tell me that my schedule isn't hard? I mean life hasn't been all hard though. Its because Bryce and I have become really good buds. We hangout all the time when we don't have homework or class—which ends up being a really small amount of time. Bryce and I are even thinking about joining a fraternity, not one of those stuck up frats but a frat thats focused on academics. Noticing how the tine was to my class, I get my back pack and get ready for class.  
The problem is that my class is about to start in 20 minutes. This doesn't give me along time to get ready. The class is my 11 O'clock Computer Science class. The class is super interesting because we are learning about coding and we are learning about the future of technology is America. The only thing that isn't cool about the class is the teacher, Professor Whitman. This is because I get weird vibes from him for example he wants his students to take personal tests to quantify the students aptitude for certain things. He doesn't like it when students are late to his class, that is his major pet peeve. And just my luck, I make it to class five minutes late and this catches the attention of Professor Whitman.

He looks at me and says, "Ahhhh, Mr. Bartowski come see me after class." His tone is very sardonic and he seems like he is highly disappointed with me.

When lifting my head up to answer the professor, I couldn't help but see his cold and calculated eyes staring at me. My throats tightens up and becomes dry as I answer, "Of course, professor."

Shit. Thats the only thing I can think. I never want to create unwanted attention to myself. I'm much more comfortable standing in the background and letting life come to me. And now, all the other students are staring at me like I'm some of animal in a zoo. I hate being the center of attention because I feels as though I need to validate the classes opinion of me. Afterwards the rest of class goes by smoothly, but then I remember that I have to face the professor. I should tell you guys a little something about the professor, he's around my height, he's severely buff, and he has a bald spot that shines like the northern lights. He's really intimidating—I wouldn't want to be stuck with him in the back of a dark alley. Anyways, so after class I go up to his office. When I get there I notice that he's on a phone—an extremely weird phone, its rounded, looks like its touch sensitive, and it has a lime green hue. so I wait outside the door. After a little bit of waiting, I knock on his door trying to get his attention.

His head snaps back into reality, he looks at me and says, "Come in Charles and please take a seat." Not wanting to seem rude, I come in and very inconspicuously take sit down.

He starts to go on a tangent about how the world is changing extremely fast and how terrorism is on the rise. It was an über patriotic schtick however he was making very valid points. I was actually starting to agree with him.

The part that caught my eye was when he asked, "Charles, what are you willing to do to protect your country?" Flabbergasted, I just stare at him with a look that probably makes me look stupid. His expression showed utter disappointment and contempt for my very existence. He softly says, "Get out of here and forget I said anything to you! And don't tell your friends!" I couldn't understand what made him so mad, its not like I told him anything.

The whole conversation irked me out. So I started racing to get out of there and by a stroke of pure luck, I ran into someone. I need to tell you guys something really quick. I haven't talked to Jill since the gas station incident. I've been meaning to talk to her but you know, school and stuff. Not to mention the fact that I seem to lack any sort of self-confidence to be able to talk to her effectively. Anyways, the person I ran into was Jill Roberts. I may not believe in god, but if there was a god then this was his doing.

Not realizing who it was, I clumsily say, "Oops sorry there, I didn't mean to bump into —." And thats when I saw her face, I ask,"Jill, is that you?" Her face lights up like a light bulb as she remembers me.

She looked at my face as if she were apprehensive. At this moment of silence I was able to take in her features. She looks almost exactly the same way she looked at the gas station except for the hair, instead of the straight brown hair she had her hair braided down to her shoulders. I was utterly enamored by her, and I was walking a fine between infatuation and adoration.

Needing to clear my thoughts, which were getting increasingly raunchy. I ask, "So how's school been for you so far?" Jill's face looked more relaxed as she said, "Good but Chemistry is really kicking my butt." I reply, "Ya I know what you mean, I can't stand moles and all that stuff." She starts to laugh and exclaims, "Out of all the topics in chemistry you chose the most rudimentary math topic!"

There is only one thing that comes to my mind and that is that Jill is teasing me! I am super surprised, but I decide to go along with it. "Well, you know I'm not the best at math so maybe I need a tutor. Do you know one?" I ask. I don't usually flirt but this was to good of an opportunity to pass up!

Jills eyebrows quirk up as she catches my rift. She says, "Maybe I do know one—she grabs a pen and paper and scratches down an address. Here, come to this address tomorrow at 8 p.m sharp. Don't be late." And with that, she gets her things ready to leave. I say, "you gotta go?" She deadpans, "Ya I have class." We say our good byes and we go our separate ways…again. I can only hope that this is Jill's address, so that tomorrow night I might be with her.

* * *

Alright guys that is the end of this chapter! What are you thoughts, compliments, and criticisms? I plan to have most chapters be around 3000 words. This will keep my mind fresh with ideas. I also made a decision to tie this in with canon Chuck by adding all of the spy stuff. If you have any recommendations for me, just leave me a review!  
Some questions for my readers:  
How did you guys like my introduction of Orion?  
I felt like my introduction of Bryce was a little rushed, how do you feel about it?  
Would you guys like more dialogue? Or just keep it the way it is right now?  
Now I'm going to respond to the comments:

Chuckster2016: Ya that one was my bad. I'm really going on how I remembered the show. I don't spend my time memorizing the exact season and episode that something this small happens. Thanks for reading though!

Fezzywhigg: I don't get what you mean completely. However, I'll try to get down to brass tax of it all. I think this will circle back to canon eventually. I don't know if it will match up to canon 100% because there will be minor changes made based on writer's discretion. Thanks for reading!


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